Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Datacentres ‘directly competing’ with possible residential builds near public transport, one council tells NSW inquiry, amid growing concerns Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Datacentre developments are crowding out opportunities for housing and job-rich industries across Sydney, a New South Wales inquiry has heard, with one local council reporting a rise in blackouts linked to the industry’s expansion. Several Sydney councils, all facing an influx of datacentre developments, have raised concerns about the health, environmental and amenity impacts on their local communities in submissions to the state’s datacentre inquiry. Continue reading...

We are at a critical point in the climate emergency and already struggling to meet emissions reduction targets. The UK government must hold its nerve While the UK is only marginally involved in the war in the Middle East in military terms, the ramifications for this country are still potentially huge. And nowhere more so than in the energy sector. It isn’t a surprise, then, that commentary has focused on the impact potential policy interventions might have on the cost of energy to UK homes and businesses, and on whether the decisions the government takes will make the nation more – or less – energy-secure. The usual suspects in Reform and the Tory party have used the war as an excuse to renew demands that the North Sea be sucked dry of its remaining oil and gas, in order – they say – to end reliance on fossil fuel imports and to guarantee energy security. More sensible heads have argued that the North Sea basin is a field that is way past peak production, and that has only limited amounts of oil and gas left, and that energy security can only be reached if we move further and faster on renewables. Extraordinarily, the real reason no further significant exploitation of North Sea oil and gas is planned seems to have been entirely forgotten, or at least set aside. Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. His next book – The Fate of the World: a History and Future of the Climate Crisis – is published in May Continue reading...

Document shows partial felling last year, which led to legal action against Toby Carvery, was done by Ground Control A mystery contractor who chainsawed an ancient oak in north London for the Toby Carvery restaurant chain has been identified by the Guardian, prompting more questions about the incident. The unauthorised partial felling of the 500-year-old oak a year ago on Friday in Whitewebbs Park, Enfield, prompted widespread public outrage and questions in parliament. Continue reading...

Sensory organ in male cephalopod able to detect female hormone progesterone, even if male cannot see partner Sex might seem an intimate act, but scientists have shed fresh light on how octopuses manage it at arm’s length. Male octopuses use a specialised arm called the hectocotylus to place a package of sperm inside the female’s reproductive system. Continue reading...